Wednesday, August 28, 2013

African American Remember Discrimination of the Past

USCIS 100:84. What movement tried to end racial discrimination?

This week, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington (August 28, 1963). Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial equality and freedom. The march is widely credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965).

Five decades ago Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for racial equality in the southern United States. The landscape of the region was drastically different as African Americans were denied basic human rights and freedoms because of discriminatory local and state laws designed to keep black and whites separated. VOA's Chris Simkins gives us a snapshot of what some African American endured in a segregated South.